B 12 Me Again!!!!

Hi Folks, Thanks so much for your input. I had my surgery in Boston but I am Canadian and that is the draw back. My own physician is not as "up" on these things as someone like the Boston surgeon would be. I do have my blood done every 3 months and he is very good about that. He did jump right on this and I had my first shot today. I go weekly for now and then we will switch to monthly once the levels are good. I have also called the health food store..GNC and they sell the sublinguals which I didn't know anything about until today...thanks again. I am wondering now can we all just compare notes on What Kind of Calcium and Vitamins we are taking. I think the thing I am now nervous about it that I may be taking things...which I think are helping...only to find out that that particular item does not absorb well with us kindred spirits!!! (WLS buddies). I do have a fabulous doctor but there are so few around here that have had the surgery.....(6 year wait for limited approved people only in Canada)....So could we all just share for my benefit and then I know I am on the right track....Thanks so much....Karen.

Hi Karen, My Physician has me take 1 flinstones complete, and a citracal (calcium citrate) he actually had me use tums for the first 6 month then he had me change to the citracal. morning and evening and around the middle of the day I take a vitamin C, iron and B-12. I do this faithfully everyday and have since I had my surgery. Next month is my one year and the doctor has tons of labs ordered so hope all of these vitamins/supplements worked to help keep my levels up. I'll know next month. Anyway congrads on your weightloss......Denise

I didn't mean to come across as so critical of your doc--sorry if I did. I thought you were talking about your WLS surgeon. I'm glad your regular physician is staying on top of your levels and treating the B12 deficiency very aggressively. From what I understand, you'll start feeling better almost immediately! You are doing the right thing to educate yourself about supplements--you'll have to educate your doctors for your own sake. We run into that a lot here in the U.S. as well with our general physicians, despite greater numbers of WLS post-ops running around. Anyway, to answer your question, I take one multivitamin, one prescription-strength iron pill (supplied by my surgeon's office, so I don't know the dose--I just know it's a lot higher than what one can get OTC), two calcium citrate (again, I order it from my surgeon's office, so I don't know the dosage), and one B12 sublingual each day. I can find out the exact dosages and brands if you like. But I bet you'll get lots of answers here and won't need it. Another important thing to note about taking your supplements is that calcium interferes with iron absorption (for everyone, not just us), so take them several hours apart. I was also instructed to take my two calcium pills at different times of the day as we can't absorb more than a certain amount of calcium (maybe 500mg?) at one time. So taking more than that at one time is just wasting the other pill. Therefore, I take a calcium in the morning; my multivitamin, iron, and B12 at lunch; and another calcium at bedtime. ---- Leslie -111

Here's a good link about how to take supplements so they don't cancel each other out: http://www.healthspan.co.uk/articles/article.aspx?Id=128&ct=true ---- Leslie -111

well i use the vista vitamins you get here from bariatriceating.com they are desinged for bypass patients and give you more of a boost . i used centrum complete before as well . i take calcim citracal as long as it is citrate that is the most important my dr said .. and i took sub l.. in beginig they didnt work for me so my surgeon calls my shots in and i let my hubby inject me once a month sometime on about the 4th week i take sub. a day or so for a extra lil boost .. best of luck to ya ..